House files suit against Holder over Fast and Furious documents

The investigation into the Fast and Furious scandal came to a head in June when the House of Representatives approved two separate charges finding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt. Holder had refused to comply with requests from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to produce thousands of pages of material related to the operation. The Justice Department has only produced 7,600 pages of documents out of the more than 100,000 requested by the committee.

A lawsuit filed today by House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) alleged Attorney General Eric Holder is standing on a “legally baseless” claim in refusing to provide internal Justice Department documents relating to the “Fast and Furious” gun walking investigation.

“No Court has ever held that ‘Executive privilege’ extends anywhere near as far as the Attorney General here contends that it does,” the legal complaint, filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, said. President Barack Obama on June 20 asserted executive privilege in backing Holder’s refusal to turn over some documents subpoenaed by the committee.[…]Holder said in his June 19 letter that the documents are covered by executive privilege because they are “deliberative communications.” Holder cites legal memos from several previous attorneys general arguing those types of documents are protected by the privilege, including Michael Mukasey, who served under President George W. Bush.

Issa’s suit said Holder is relying “entirely on a common law privilege known as the ‘deliberative process privilege’” because no communications with the president or his senior aides are claimed to have occurred.